MILWAUKEE — The rivalry between Wisconsin and Marquette grew stronger over the weekend after one of the nation’s top prospects, Joey Hauser (Stevens Point), announced his commitment to Marquette Sunday night.

https://twitter.com/jjhouz24/status/889257132121522178

Hauser is ranked as the No. 1 power forward in the state of Wisconsin and the No. 35 prospect nationwide, according to 247 Sports. He chooses Marquette over Wisconsin and Michigan State, who considered Hauser their top target. Wisconsin was even reported to be holding off on offering any other scholarships for 2018 until Hauser made his decision.

He also had offers from Iowa, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Purdue and Northwestern.

Hauser has asserted himself on the hardwood, helping the Panthers earn three consecutive Division 1 WIAA championships. He’ll have a family reunion of sorts with the Golden Eagles, teaming up his with brother Sam, a sophomore on Marquette’s roster.

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s basketball team has just one commitment for the 2018 recruiting class, but doesn’t appear ready to even offer another scholarship until they know what four-star power forward Joey Hauser wants to do.

https://twitter.com/NDHoopsRecruits/status/886199686050217984

Wednesday marked the start of the July recruiting assessment period and all three of Hauser’s top suitors (Wisconsin, Marquette, Michigan State) have been in attendance of his AAU team’s games this week in South Carolina. Hauser led his Iowa Barnstormers with 27 points and eight rebounds in Friday’s second contest of the day.

Being that Hauser is from the Stevens Point area and won national championships on the Kohl Center floor, it would appear the recruiting battle would be Wisconsin’s to lose. But given that his older brother Sam chose to attend Marquette, 247 Sports is projecting a 71 percent chance that the younger Hauser spends his college career as a Golden Eagle.

In addition to the three teams mentioned, Hauser has offers from schools like Iowa, Duke, and Notre Dame. The latter could be a surprise contender, according to the following Tweet:

https://twitter.com/NDHoopsRecruits/status/886201665971421184

But in a recent article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Hauser has been having an internal struggle deciding which school will be the best fit. Author Jeff Potrykus spoke with Hauser’s high school coach, Scott Anderson, who said Hauser seemed poised to make a decision earlier this month, but a visit with his top three schools gave him second thoughts.

“He came back and it was more muddied, I guess is the best way to put it,” Anderson said in the article. “He felt [conflicted] again.”

The 6-8 power forward remains uncommitted, and with Anderson describing Hauser’s decision-making process as “fluid,” there’s no telling when a verbal commitment could be made. Wisconsin, Marquette, and Michigan State each consider Hauser to be their No. 1 target for the 2018 recruiting class.

Div II
The Golden Beavers capped an unbeaten season (28-0) with a 52-33 win over the Packers, despite facing an early 10-0 deficit. Beaver Dam forced 16 turnovers in the first half and turned it into a 30-10 run and a 30-20 halftime lead. The Golden Beavers would then go on a 12-3 run in the second half to lock up their first State championship in school history. Tara Stauffacher and Aly Van Loo led the Golden Beavers with 12 points each.

Div III
The Crusaders (25-3) took home their first State title by downing the Spartans 51-30, following an inability from both teams to convert on field goal attempts. Madison Edgewood shot 26 percent in the first half, while Martin Luther was 22 percent. The Crusaders came out firing in the second half, hitting 50 percent of their shots, while the Spartans’ struggles continued. Edgewood was led by a game-high 20 points from Estella Moschkau.

EAST LANSING, Mich.— For the second Saturday in a row, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team defeated their opponent in overtime after giving up a lead late in the third period.

Finishing off an emotional weekend with the passing of legendary Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer, defenseman Jake Linhart ended the game 1:34 into overtime as the Badgers (15-8-1, 8-2-0-0 Big Ten) knocked off Michigan State (5-17-2, 1-8-1-0) by a count of 4-3 on Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena.

“They came out and wanted to get their season going by beating us tonight,” head coach Tony Granato said. “Fortunately, Matty (Jurusik) was real good early. That was a big part of the game and obviously when we got to overtime, we made a great play.”

UW led the game 3-2 late in the third period when Michigan State pulled its goaltender with 1:20 to go. MSU scored just 13 seconds later on a Brennan Sanford goal to make it 3-3 and force the game into sudden-death overtime.

“I think just the way we play now, our systems allow us to do that,” Linhart said. “We aren’t always going to have the best games but when we stick to our plan, support each other, we’re gonna come out with the W’s a lot.”

The Spartans dominated the first minute of overtime, peppering Matt Jurusik with shots but the sophomore goalie held strong in between the pipes before Linhart scored his third goal of the year from the slot on a nice feed from Seamus Malone.

The game went back and forth with the Badgers striking first in the late stages of the first period. Luke Kunin scored a short-handed goal with 1:51 left in the opening frame to make it 1-0 Badgers. Trent Frederic earned his 13th assist of the year on the captain’s 17th tally.

Jurusik made 16 saves in the stanza to ensure Wisconsin had a one-goal lead heading into the first intermission.

In the second period, which has been the Badgers’ strongest period offensively this season, Michigan State scored twice to give themselves a 2-1 lead heading into the third. Rhett Holland scored for MSU on a scramble in front of Jurusik which then sparked a fight that saw JD Greenway get a five-minute major for fighting and a game disqaulification. Greenway will miss the series opener next weekend against Penn State.

“We battled. I think that’s the fourth time in a row against Michigan State that we’ve gone down to five defensemen,” Linhart said. “It’s pretty tough when it happens that early, every time has been in the first or second period but we battled through it. I’m pretty tired right now, I think everyone is, so we’ll take the day off tomorrow and get ready for this week.”

Joe Cox then scored his fifth of the season 15:51 into the middle frame to give Michigan State their first lead of the series.

The final period turned out to be the Cardinal and White’s most effective, as Frederic squeaked in his 10th goal of his freshman campaign to tie the game at 2-2. Cameron Hughes and Cullen Hurley earned helpers on the play.

“He made some big plays for us this weekend. He’s heck of a player for an 18-year-old kid,” Granato said of Frederic.

UW then took a 3-2 lead on Cameron Hughes’ sixth goal of the year. The junior forward deflected a Corbin McGuire shot past MSU goaltender John Lethemon to put Wisconsin up with 9:55 to play in regulation. Hughes’ points extended his point streak to eight games.

“I think that segment in the third period was maybe our best hockey of the weekend,” Granato said. “We got the lead and then I thought we played really well despite the one mistake at the end.”

Jurusik ended up with 28 saves on 31 shots in the game to give him his eighth win of the year and fourth straight since returning from injury at the beginning of January.

The overtime victory gives UW its first five-game win streak since the 2013-14 season when the Badgers strung together a handful of victories from Feb. 15-March 8.

The sweep over the Spartans also capped off a season sweep of MSU, the first time Wisconsin has accomplished a season sweep since the formation of the Big Ten conference during the 2013-14 season. It also marked UW’s first sweep at Michigan State since December of 1977, though this was just the sixth series at Munn Ice Arena between the two schools since.

The comeback triumph was also the Badgers’ first win in 51 tries when trailing heading into the third period.

Conference play is now officially halfway done and UW still sits atop the standings tied with Minnesota after 10 games. The two teams share an identical 8-2-0-0 record in Big Ten matchups and sit eight points clear of third-place Penn State, who head to the Kohl Center next weekend.

“They throw a lot of pucks at the net,” Linhart said. “We’re going to have to be strong defensively, get it in our forwards hands and play offense as much as we can.”

MADISON, Wis. — Coming off of a break that spanned nearly a month with the determination to start the year on the right foot, Wisconsin secured its first win of 2017 with a 5-1 victory over Michigan State at the Kohl Center on Friday.

“I thought we were good,” UW head coach Tony Granato said. “I thought after the 26-day break we were all nervous as coaches because you never know. I thought we were a little sloppy at times and a little bit rusty trying to get into the game, but fortunately we were able to get a couple goals.”

With Wisconsin (9-7-1, 2-1-0-0) sophomore captain Luke Kunin taking a rest after captaining Team USA to the gold medal at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, the rest of the Badgers stepped up for a balanced team effort as five different players tallied a goal.

“I think without Luke (Kunin) we changed the lines a little bit,” Granato said. “We created some offense, as always we made some nice plays in the offensive zone that were big plays to get us some nice goals.”

The Badgers quickly put a 2-0 lead on the board, as junior forward Jason Ford picked up his third goal of the season just 2:21 into play. Sliding through the slot, Ford fired a loose puck past Michigan State (4-12-1, 0-3-0-0) goaltender Ed Minney to give UW the 1-0 advantage.

Exactly four minutes later, junior forward Cameron Hughes split the Spartan defense and sent a rocket in under Minney’s pad to secure the 2-0 lead.

Michigan State would respond a minute later, when Villiam Haag snuck a shot off the post and in to cut the Wisconsin lead to 2-1.

Will Johnson would help Wisconsin regain a two-goal lead early in the second frame, picking up his sixth goal of the season during a Badger power play. With a 5-on-3 advantage, the sophomore forward found space in front of the Spartan crease and fired a wrister past a diving Minney.

“When it is a 5-on-3, it’s not the end of the world if the eight seconds go up,” sophomore Seamus Malone said of his pass to Johnson late on the advantage. “You need to look for that right opportunity. Will (Johnson) got open and I saw him, so I just gave him the puck right away. He did a good job so it made it pretty easy on my part.”

Defenseman Jake Linhart would add a goal of his own in the period, striking on the penalty kill for the junior’s first career short-handed goal. Linhart crashed in on a loose puck sitting in the slot, beating the MSU defensemen and sending a backhand shot past Minney.

“I saw we had a little bit of an odd man rush,” Linhart said. “I jumped in the play and (Trent Frederic) threw it to the net and luckily it popped out to me. It was kind of a flukey goal, but I’ll take it.”

Rookie forward Max Zimmer notched the final goal of the game for Wisconsin at the 10:52 mark of the third period, finishing off a textbook play set up by senior Grant Besse and Malone. Malone skated deep into the Spartan zone, then dished the puck to the slot for Zimmer’s one-timer into the wide open net.

“I think that line has been good for us,” Granato said of Zimmer, Malone and Besse. “I think Max (Zimmer) is going to continue to gain confidence playing with those guys. I thought his jump in practice this week, he just looks like he’s a confident player now.”

Wisconsin outshot Michigan State 36-26 in the game with freshman goalie Jack Berry collecting 25 saves in the win.

The defeat of Michigan State marks Wisconsin’s 199th win at the Kohl Center, where the team began playing its games in 1998.

“I think we have a lot more to bring tomorrow,” Frederic said. “I don’t know if that was our best, obviously we haven’t played in a long time. We have a lot more to bring. They hit a lot of posts so it could’ve been a close game. The bounces went our way, but I think tomorrow we have to come out a little bit better.”

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Wisconsin’s defense recorded four takeaways and Alex Hornibrook threw for 195 yards and a touchdown in a 30-6 win over Michigan State Saturday afternoon.

Hornibrook replaced incumbent Bart Houston this week following a narrow win over Georgia State. He went 16-of-26 in his first career start, with his lone interception coming just before halftime as the redshirt freshman heaved the ball towards the end zone to try and extend a lead.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — After being limited for much of the week in practice, Wisconsin running back Corey Clement will start Saturday when they begin Big Ten play against Michigan State.

Clement tweaked his left ankle late in the first half against Akron back on Sept. 10 and missed the following week’s game against Georgia State because of the injury. By resting his ankle, he had hoped to be ready to go against the Spartans, but it wasn’t announced until early Saturday morning that he’d be able to start. Wisconsin’s injuries in the backfield this week have already claimed Bradrick Shaw (shoulder | OUT) and Taiwan Deal (ankle | QUESTIONABLE).

Clement’s status was perhaps one secret the Badgers were able to keep as word slipped out on Tuesday that redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook would be the starting quarterback.

MADISON, Wis. — While there’s been no press release, it appears Alex Hornibrook will be the starting quarterback against Michigan State after Matt Lepay, Mike Lucas, and Chris Hall discussed the matchup via Facebook.

All three are University of Wisconsin Athletics employees, and Hall began the video by saying “there will be a change after we saw what happened last week in the third quarter…He’s going to start this week.”

Hall was referring to the quarterback swap after halftime in the 23-17 win over Georgia State in which Hornibrook replaced Bart Houston and went 8-of-12 for 122 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Hornibrook’s poise helped lead a comeback touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and ultimately the win.

The video confirmed what Hornibrook seemed to leak to the media after Tuesday’s practice in regards to reports he’d be the starter. Hornibrook also revealed he’d taken more first-team reps in practice than normal.

During Monday’s weekly press conference, head coach Paul Chryst dodged a question about Houston’s status, responding with the notion that both quarterbacks will be ready to play and both would be needed against Michigan State. That will be an 11 a.m. CT kickoff from East Lansing, Mich.